Pregame buzz: Rivalry week, yes, but Michigan was like whipped topping on pumpkin pie — necessary and enjoyable but offering little resistance to the main ingredient still to come. Then the Buckeyes took a bite and found the Wolverines to be more like unshelled pecan pie. Who would have thought it? Entering the game, Michigan’s running, er, marching band was the Wolverines’ best rushing attack. Goes to show that The Game is rarely just a game.

Worth the trip? The Big House began to feel like a tiny closet as the walls closed in on Ohio State fans. But just when OSU looked ready to blow it, the defense sucked it up for one last stop — thanks to little-known cornerback Tyvis Powell — and Buckeye Nation was able to exhale.

One-liner: Who knew Ohio State lineman Marcus Hall likes to play Angry “Birds?”

Just wondering: Was Brady Hoke a champ or a chump for choosing to go for two — and the win — instead of kicking an extra point that would have sent the game to overtime? Michigan players said their coach asked the seniors during the final timeout what they wanted to do, and every one said go for two, which is where Hoke was leaning anyway. Was that being cool or careless?

The view

How the team sees it: Big thanks to Brady for not giving us the boot, so to speak. Bigger thanks to Nick Saban.

How the pollsters will see it: Just because you received a stay of execution doesn’t mean you are not guilty. We’re still trying to come up with something.

How Buckeye Nation will see it: Miller, Hyde & Powell sounds like a personal injury law firm, which makes sense considering the Buckeyes defense was guilty of negligence.

Urban dictionary

His words: “Both offenses were kind of in the unstoppable mode.”

The definition: “Probably because both defenses were in the unwatchable mode.”

If this were a movie

Escape from Ann Arbor, based on the Clint Eastwood flick, Escape from Alcatraz, stars Urban Meyer as the coach of few words — at least last week — who must devise a strategy of getting out of Michigan without losing his life, or his reputation. In the end, of course, it’s mission accomplished, but not before some incredibly harrowing moments.

They said it

As heard on TV: Other than the normally mistake-free Brad Nessler mistaking Ann Arbor for Columbus, the ABC duo of Nessler and Todd Blackledge were mostly on their game. A delicate issue was how to best handle, for lack of a better term, Michigan tight end Jake Butt without devolving into middle-school bathroom humor. Butt, from Pickerington North, had a big game (five catches and a touchdown), so it’s not like the ABC booth could avoid him. But credit the announcers for not cracking, er, breaking under the pressure.

As heard from a Michigan fan (before the game): “If you’re Hoke, don’t you wear a headset just to make it look like you know what you’re doing?” Ouch.

Numbers for dummies

1926: The last time, and only time either team won by a single point in The Game. Michigan won that one, 17-16 in Columbus.

34-5-34-5-34-5: Seemingly, the Buckeyes’ play-calling plan, based on the jersey numbers of Carlos Hyde and Braxton Miller.

On tap

Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. For the Rose Bowl. Or maybe much more.